Wall Street ratings agencies set the tone for today's stock market.

MINYANVILLE ORIGINAL On 12/12/12, the mood music of the markets was symmetry in BB-flat. Shares barely budged after Ben Bernanke gave us an interest rate update even as a Cantor tried to make himself heard above the din.

Ludwig Van Beethoven, whose initials adorn the stock symbol of Steinway Musical Instruments (LVB), heard that stock crash 5.27% to a fresh low although a musical concert to benefit the Robin Hood Foundation lifted the mood at Madison Square Garden (MSG), which now has no need to steal from the rich after rising 1.42% to the highest level in its entire history. Operation Twist is history and Wal-Mart (WMT), which arrived on the scene in 1962 when the Twist was big, tumbled 2.75% amid allegations of improper lobbying in India, whose world famous sitar was sadly silenced.

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